Crude prices may have fallen to around $77 a barrel, but the momentum of the Permian Basin’s oil and gas industry continues to flow through local labor markets.

The Midland metropolitan statistical area had an unemployment rate of 2.5 percent in October, down from 2.6 percent in September, according to data released Friday by the Texas Workforce Commission. Odessa followed with a 3 percent rate, down from 3.1 percent in September. Midland continues to post the state’s lowest unemployment and Odessa the second lowest. A year ago Midland’s unemployment was 3.2 percent.

“It’s been around 2 to 3 percent for some time now,” said Mark Lavergne, spokesman for the commission.

He said that the rate is the MSA’s lowest since 2.3 percent in April. “You have to go back to 2008 to find a time when the rate was at or below 2.5 percent, when it got to 2.4 percent,” he said.

The MSA added 1,400 jobs from September to October for a growth rate of 1.5 percent, a figure Lavergne called significant. The bulk of those jobs — 600 — was in the mining, logging and construction sector, which includes oil and gas.

For the 12 months from October 2013 to October 2014, Midland added 6,200 jobs for a growth rate of 7.2 percent. The mining sector added 3,700 jobs for a 14.8 percent growth rate.

Jim Newman, senior vice president, region operations with Basic Energy Services, said his company has about 100 positions open in the Permian Basin, where the company employs 2,600. There are no specific staffing goals, with hiring largely activity-driven, he said.

“We’re always looking for qualified people at all levels,” he said, adding that the challenge is finding skilled employees.

“We can hire entry-level employees and train them, but we can’t make a five-year-experienced hand in a week,” he said. “The experienced labor pool gets small.”

While the company enjoys the benefits of an active oil field, Newman said there are challenges in rising wages and the rising cost of living in a booming area.

The recent decline in oil prices has yet to impact Basic’s business, he said.

He said an impact is expected later on and customers are already beginning to talk of price concessions. Newman said Basic officials plan to work with their customers on service costs rather than taking an adversarial stance.

“We work with each other,” he said.

Midland’s second dominant industrial sector is trade, transportation and utilities, which added 300 jobs from September to October and has added 800 jobs over the past 12 months.

“You see in Midland, and in other parts of the state, the ripple effect of oil and gas. The growth of oil and gas is giving rise to other industrial sectors,” said Lavergne, noting that trade, transportation and utilities includes retail businesses.

Even the U.S. Postal Service is hiring. USPS announced plans to fill career city carrier positions, automotive technician jobs and a wide variety of temporary postal jobs in the Midland-Odessa area.

The October data shows “consistent trends over time, which is what you want to look for when you’re looking at labor market data,” Lavergne said.

Statewide, the unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent from 5.2 percent in September and is down from 6.2 percent last October. The state added 35,200 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs in October and has added 421,900 jobs, setting a record for jobs added in the state for the third consecutive month.

While Midland had the lowest unemployment, the highest was in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission at 7.9 percent.